Reporting back from Rusty Scuppers Pirate Daze. All I can say about this weekend is that it was truly EPIC! For our very first "away game", the crew and I headed up to Westport Washington last Thursday. RS is a small-ish regional festival, but with the Portland Pirate Festival sidelined again this year, it's really the only opportunity for us to set up camp in the area. We can tell the Rusty Scuppers is an up-and-comer, and I predict that it may someday rival anything we have down here, but for now it's small enough that we were among the big dogs, and the camp looked glorious! We had great interactions with the crowd, and they loved watching us just being pirates - eating, drinking, reading dirty limericks, and generally being a bunch of layabout rogues.

Setup went smoothly, even though this is only the third time we've set up this version of the camp, and load out went quicker than anticipated. When we arrived our spot had been chalked out for us by someone who is, apparently, spelling-challenged; the spot read "Outragiest Fortune". That's right, we're not just Outrageous, we're the OUTRAGIEST!

For our 2:30 scheduled performance, the crew (unbeknownst to me, and led, I believe, by Bosun Joe), arranged to have me arrested and hauled to the clink. Leave it to our crew to hire somebody else to star in our scheduled performance! Much easier than doing it themselves! 

The Trousermaster made a record 21 wardrobe changes, and we learned the decorative, comedic and culinary value of dangling sausages.

I was honored to officiate the wedding of Lance DeVille and Sharkbait aboard the Lady Washington, which was great good fun. I've not seen any photos of that event yet but will add them when I do.

Huge thanks to all who helped out, and everybody who came by to visit and play with us. Officers in attendance were Captain Topknot, Quartermaster Randy, Bosun Joe Therogue, and Pusser/Trousermaster Calico Cunneit. Able-Bodied Seamen Gunwales and Powder were also in attendance and provided much assistance to the camp. I'd also like to add honorable mentions to our mates Gunpowder Gertie and Mad Myfawnwy (thanks a million for the chairs, rum cake and COMPANY), who joined us from BC, and our own Ladies Auxiliary, comprised this journey of Ruby Rumbottom, Lion and Debbie. 

I regret that we didn't get a group shot (as Ruby suggested we do); we were just too busy having fun! We're already talking about how we can do better next year. Hope you all will consider joining us!

I've been remiss in posting to this blog; sorry about that, if anybody's actually reading any of this drivel! Since my last posting we have had a stellar showing at the St. Johns parade (our 7th year marching in this). We had a great turnout, and were joined by a number of crews. Our favorite Canadian pirates, Gunpowder Gertie and Tess Hunter were in attendance, and copious amounts of bacon (both Canadian and "stripey" were consumed. We raided the town afterwards, and then some of us hung out at Bosun Joe's place for an after-party. We didn't win an award this year, but we still had a grand time.

A couple of weeks after the St. Johns parade we held our second Banyan. This "for us, by us" event was inspired by a passage in Angus Konstam's book Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate:“At some time in mid-to late September, Blackbeard’s lookouts on Ocracoke Island would have seen a sloop approaching from the south, then watched as she altered course toward Ocracoke Inlet. Unlike the usual small trading vessels bound for Bath Town, this sloop was well armed. She turned out to be a pirate ship – None other than the Ranger, commanded by Charles Vane. Blackbeard would have already prepared the Adventure for action, but stood his men down when the Ranger heaved to under Blackbeard’s guns. The presence of two pirate bands in the same waters called for a celebration.

The nautical term for what followed is a ‘banyan’, an impromptu beach picnic involving drinking and merrymaking. It originally derived from a Hindu term that referred to the open-air markets held by Indian merchants beneath the trees of the same name. By the late seventeenth century it had been adopted by the buccaneers to refer to any open-air gathering on the seashore. Pirates were never known for their moderation, and both Vane and Blackbeard would have made sure that the rum flowed like water, and everyone ate their fill. This party lasted about a week, which was presumably when the rum ran out. Vane and his crew made their farewells, and the Ranger headed back out to sea, sailing north”.

The Outrageous Fortune's banyan is designed to look as much as possible like an historic one - no plastic, camp stoves, or other modern conveniences may be visible. We all bring rustic foods, meat is roasted (this year it was goat), and merrymaking ensues.

Our banyan was held at Kelley Point park, as was the first one. This location is ideal except for the fact that there's no camping. This creates problems for load-out, and also has a habit of cutting the event shorter than I like, so the next banyan will be someplace where we can camp nearby, and leave our party set up on the beach to enjoy a second day.

I think our banyan looked pretty darned good, and we had a great time. We even had an opportunity to do some living history education, showing some picnickers how to load and fire our flintlocks. Much food and drink were consumed, and then the various crews went on their merry ways.